Bob’s Way Trail Flooding Recedes, 10/04/2016

In mid-summer, beavers dammed the tiny stream at the head of the Bob’s Way trails. Given the severe drought, we thought we could ignore them for a while, but these beavers were excessively resourceful: they dammed every trickle in this tiny watershed and made the trail muddy for months.

With funding from the Nion Robert Thieriot Foundation, the MSPCA (Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), supports the control of flooding without killing beavers. BNRC and Beaver Solutions installed a “beaver deceiver” to maintain the impoundment at a level that won’t flood the trail. The deceiver is a culvert that passes through the dam; the deceiver works by hiding water currents that trigger the beaver’s damming-reflex.

Our thanks to the Thieriots and to MSPCA for their assistance which helped us keep the trail dry and the beaver in its happy home.